People’s Daily published a report about the recent announcement that the United States made about upgrading its tactical nuclear weapons. The report stated that the U.S. military has placed its advanced weapons in the Asian Pacific region, one after the other, in an attempt to make the Western Pacific a major war zone.

The report quoted Chinese Major General Yin Zhuo’s comment on the matter. Yin said, “The U.S. has always been keeping its absolute leading position in the application of nuclear weapons. … To the U.S., a nuclear war is not an improbable choice. Rather, it’s a possible choice. Therefore, we should not have any illusion about [the U.S. initiating a nuclear war]. We must have a completely safe plan in place.” Yin also said, “The nuclear threat of the U.S. to China has always been there. Of course, the strategic environment has changed greatly; the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in politics and the economy have increased. Even so, when we deal with the U.S., we must keep in mind and be very clear that some of the U.S. nuclear weapons are targeting us.”

Source: People’s Daily, May 15, 2012
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/17905382.html

Beijing Daily’s official microblogging (Weibo) re-posted a blog by “Woodbell 魏志奇” about U.S. Ambassador Locke. The blog said, “Locke lives in the official U.S. Ambassador’s residence that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. He travels in a bullet proof limousine. The the U.S. taxpayers pay his family’s expenses, including maids. How can such luxury be considered a simple life? Ambassador Locke, why haven’t you disclosed these [facts]? Disclosing only coffee [Locke attempted to buy coffee with a coupon at the airport on his way to Beijing] and economy class [Locke used economy class when he travelled to China with his family and travels inside China using economy class] is done only for show! It is futile to package Locke as a commoner.” Beijing Daily added its comment, “Locke, please disclose your assets.”

Chinese netizens found out that Locke’s assets were already available on the Internet. They then urged Beijing Daily to issue a commentary asking Chinese officials to disclose their personal assets.

Source: China Review News, May 15, 2012
http://www.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1021/0/8/3/102108302.html?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=102108302&mdate=0515092247

On May 14, 2012, Xinhua reported that Herman Cain, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and former Republican Presidential candidate, commented on the Federal Reserve System. Cain said, "the present U.S. monetary system is an abysmal failure by any objective measure." He expressed the belief that the Fed is manipulating the dollar and that the United States should roll back to the Gold Standard. Cain wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal saying that “it is not the people of the Fed, but the actual structure, that needs reform. Our liberty and prosperity depend on it.” For the last 40 years in Washington, regulate has meant manipulate, with the Federal Reserve raising and lowering interest rates and buying and selling assets at its own discretion. Since the beginning of the global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has lowered the interest rate to 0.25%. All the Fed’s recent rounds of “Quantitative Easing (QE)” efforts have cast a negative image on the Federal Reserve inside and outside of the United States.

Sources: Xinhua, May 14, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-05/15/c_123128015.htm

Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2012
"Herman Cain: We Need a Dollar as Good as Gold," 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577395891113592150.html?mod=googlenews_wsj